Agriculture and Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Program

Round 3 of the Agriculture and Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Program is now open and closes 12pm on 3 April 2018.

Up to $30,000 is available to farmers and innovators in the sector for an entrepreneurship scholarship.

If you live in regional Western Australia, work in agriculture or aquaculture and you have a new idea, invention, technology or practice that you want to investigate, you may be eligible.

You can find out more about the program and whether you are eligible to apply by reading the Agriculture and Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Program Applicant Information document. Commonly asked questions and the answers can be found here.

You can also take part in an information session. Two more sessions have been scheduled and will be available online or by telephone:

For your application to be eligible, you must apply using the Application Form for Round 3. It is a good idea to contact the Department to talk about your project and eligibility before you apply.

The Western Australian government is committed to supporting innovation, jobs and sustainable practices in agriculture and aquaculture. Western Australia’s $6.8 billion agriculture sector has huge potential to innovate by working with highly skilled scientists, researchers and international leaders. This program provides scholarships to Western Australian farmers and individuals in the agriculture or aquaculture sector of up to $30,000 each to develop and pursue their idea through travel and other activities that help them learn from Australian and international best practice or leaders in their field.

Round 2 Recipients 2017

Four scholarships were awarded in the second round of the Program as follows:

Justine Arnold from Indian Ocean Fresh Australia will lead a small team of experts on a “Knowledge Quest” to Japan to access the knowledge of Japanese kingfish farmers and researchers, their management strategies and techniques developed for warm water kingfish culture and to gain insights into skills and techniques required for the rapidly emerging aquaculture industry in WA.

Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation and Maxima Pearling Company have commenced a research and development project to trial rock oyster production in the Pilbara. The award will enable travel to established edible oyster production areas in South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania to build networks and facilitate technology transfer from these areas to the local environment in the Pilbara.

Tim Hyde and Rod Campbell of Indicina Pty Ltd to travel to Queensland, New South Wales and the United States of America to gain an understanding of the Agtech sector with regard to water and nutrient management requirements of various agricultural industries and the potential integration of its technology SWAN System. The trip will also be an opportunity to discuss business arrangements with potential resellers and to investigate data synergies with in field hardware and the capacity to upload data onto SWAN System.

Mr Anthony Quinlan of Soil Dynamics to travel to Spain to investigate and develop a collaboration with the production company who will manufacture protypes of micro fibre bands for use in food crop protection, and to China to investigate impregnation of the micro fibres with organic insecticides to improve efficacy of the product.

All of the successful applicants will return to Western Australia to share their experiences and knowledge within their sector and regional WA.

Round 1 Recipients 2016

Four scholarships were awarded in the inaugural round of the Program to:

Steve Carr to travel to South Africa to study new practices and opportunities for lime incorporation to manage sub-soil acidity.

Julian Sharp to travel to Victoria to visit growers and contacts along the shiitake supply chain to investigate opportunities to establish a traditional log grown shiitake mushroom industry in the South West region.

Chris Witt to travel to the United States of America and Europe to further develop his drone technology for use in broadacre crop production.

John Guest to travel overseas to further his research and understanding of opportunities for increasing marron production on commercial farms.

All of the successful applicants will return to Western Australia to share their experiences and knowledge within their sector and regional WA.